[mapsonburt]

I've talked at length about this. There is nothing wrong with your PlayBook other than the battery is very low. F2 has cut and pasted my instructions from another thread into a post about 10 above this. Do that. You need to get enough juice into the PlayBook that it will start all the way. Constantly attempting to start it before it has that juice will just drag it down to the point you won't have ANY lights. Trust me... follow the instructions. It'll start.

[oldyellr]

Okay, I'll go back and look at that post.

Meanwhile, I did go out and get a Rapid Charger for $20 and plugged it in. Even though it's just 2.0 amps vs. the 1.7 amps of the wall charger, it's doing something quite different. I wasn't really paying close attention when I first plugged it in, but it appears that when it gets to the green light, the light keeps fading on and off at 5 second intervals continuously, which looks more promising. Then, if I unplug it, a symbol appears on the screen telling me to plug it back in. I'll see where that takes me for now.

In any case, The Rapid Charger is probably a good investment if I get this thing resurrected.

[oldyellr]

It lives! The Rapid Charger did it. I highly recommend getting one of these while there's any left. My store had 5 in stock.

BlackBerry� Rapid Travel Charger For BlackBerry� PlayBook

[FF22]

Well, done, Oldyellr (sniff - what a sad movie, even after all these years, not since Bambi had an animal died in an American film!!!!).

And Mapsonburt, Thanks for the vote of confidence about cutting/pasting your method. Fortunately, I have not personally had to test it. (I on the other hand, have not had good luck with the Debrick process - mine goes on for hours and fails generally!)

[mapsonburt]

Yeah, I tried the debrick once and I spent the next 5 days downloading all my apps on the world's slowest wifi connection. I swear there were two tin cans and a string in there somewhere....

[mapsonburt]

It lives! The Rapid Charger did it. I highly recommend getting one of these while there's any left. My store had 5 in stock.

BlackBerry� Rapid Travel Charger For BlackBerry� PlayBook

The flashing green light meant your battery was over the minimum limit. Your old charger would have worked too given a bit more time. It is VERY important though that you do not try to start the device while it's in this cycle as the charger doesn't have enough juice to power it up and deliver enough charge to keep it going. You may also want to check the USB connection of your device now that you have it started (you should see a charging symbol when you plug it in). Those connections can get a bit loose. The Rapid Charger is much better (and delivers more punch to boot). Glad it worked out for you.

[oldyellr]

Yeah, I tried the debrick once and I spent the next 5 days downloading all my apps on the world's slowest wifi connection. I swear there were two tin cans and a string in there somewhere....

I hear ya! The first thing I did was check for updates and there was one, 133MB in size. It took a couple of hours to download in a location my laptop gets an excellent wifi signal and would download that amount of data in seconds. The Blackberry server must be on dial-up!

[oldyellr]

The flashing green light meant your battery was over the minimum limit. Your old charger would have worked too given a bit more time. It is VERY important though that you do not try to start the device while it's in this cycle as the charger doesn't have enough juice to power it up and deliver enough charge to keep it going. You may also want to check the USB connection of your device now that you have it started (you should see a charging symbol when you plug it in). Those connections can get a bit loose. The Rapid Charger is much better (and delivers more punch to boot). Glad it worked out for you.

I had it on the Blackberry 1.7 amp wall charger for weeks and all it did was cycle through the lights as I previously described, using up all the charge trying to boot. The 2.0 amps from the Rapid Charger must provide just that much more current to keep replenishing a bit more charge than the boot process depletes. As for the light, I notice some mention a yellow light, but mine is yellowish-green. However, I'm a little colour blind.

I did try the USB wall charger just now and it shows a lightning bolt on the battery symbol, so I guess it isn't broken. However, I notice the USB socket on the PB does not have the distinctive trapezoid shape that my Kobo Vox does, so it's not impossible to plug the connector in upside-down, which can't be good for the socket. Yes, I know you're supposed to plug it in with the Blackberry logo on top (and the USB symbol on the bottom).

[FF22]

I had it on the Blackberry 1.7 amp wall charger for weeks and all it did was cycle through the lights as I previously described, using up all the charge trying to boot. The 2.0 amps from the Rapid Charger must provide just that much more current to keep replenishing a bit more charge than the boot process depletes. As for the light, I notice some mention a yellow light, but mine is yellowish-green. However, I'm a little colour blind.

I did try the USB wall charger just now and it shows a lightning bolt on the battery symbol, so I guess it isn't broken. However, I notice the USB socket on the PB does not have the distinctive trapezoid shape that my Kobo Vox does, so it's not impossible to plug the connector in upside-down, which can't be good for the socket. Yes, I know you're supposed to plug it in with the Blackberry logo on top (and the USB symbol on the bottom).

The socket is designed to be usb-to-go which takes the more squarish plug but accommodates the micro-usb. And, yes, plugging in upside down has damaged a number of pb's from readings here. If you look into the port, there is a connector toward the lower portion (screen up) and if it is slanted or bent the correct plug might not go in properly. Some folks have gently pried it back level.

[Angus_CB]

...
However, I notice the USB socket on the PB does not have the distinctive trapezoid shape that my Kobo Vox does, so it's not impossible to plug the connector in upside-down, which can't be good for the socket. Yes, I know you're supposed to plug it in with the Blackberry logo on top (and the USB symbol on the bottom).

It isn't impossible to connect the USB cable upside down but it does require some effort.

[oldyellr]

It isn't impossible to connect the USB cable upside down but it does require some effort.

Humans being klutzes, it feces occurs. It's not an *****-proof design. At one time there was one Kobo and 3 Blackberry phones in our household and kids lose their chargers all the time, so they were charging their phones with my Vox charger. It only takes a bit of effort to connect it wrong the first couple of times.

[jpash549]

The trouble also is that the USB type AB socket is actually installed so that the male plug with the trapezoidal end is actually inserted in an inverted ( upside down) position compared to other devices. Thus if you use another charging cable be very careful.

The rapid travel charger can supply operating power in addition to the charging rate of about 2400 milliamps. Information on charging behavior can be found in KB27705 Blackberry Knowledge Base. When a battery is very low , i.e. less than 3.53 volts, the system does not allow charging above 400 milliamps. If the system attempts to start under this condition while plugged in to the USB wall charger it will ordinarily quickly shut down because 400 milliamps is not enough to operate. The question is whether the rapid travel charger could supply the operating power while continuing to charge the battery.

Another question I have is whether an external 5 volt battery plugged into the USB port would be useful. Suspect you would have to cycle it just like you do with the wall charger. Suppose you had a 12 volt battery with a magnetic coupler. Would that be like the rapid travel charger?

[oldyellr]

The rapid travel charger can supply operating power in addition to the charging rate of about 2400 milliamps. Information on charging behavior can be found in KB27705 Blackberry Knowledge Base.

Thanks for the link. What little documentation there was that came with the Rapid Charger gave a link to blackberry.com that didn't work.

Another question I have is whether an external 5 volt battery plugged into the USB port would be useful. Suspect you would have to cycle it just like you do with the wall charger. Suppose you had a 12 volt battery with a magnetic coupler. Would that be like the rapid travel charger?

Interesting question. On some tablets people use an external battery when there's nowhere to plug in a charger, but only 5 volts as far as I know.

[imroxfazon]

but what if your phone was low battt already and you wont know if the steps work or not?

[Krebs2017]

Does the rapid charger dock method actually work?

[Krebs2017]

thanks for the advice. bought a rapid charger from the source for twenty dollars and plugged into a playbook that dked on me last sept. worked right off and now is good to go.

does this actually work?????

[Krebs2017]

The socket is designed to be usb-to-go which takes the more squarish plug but accommodates the micro-usb. And, yes, plugging in upside down has damaged a number of pb's from readings here. If you look into the port, there is a connector toward the lower portion (screen up) and if it is slanted or bent the correct plug might not go in properly. Some folks have gently pried it back level.

IT WORKS! MY PLAYBOOK LIVES!
it says 0% and will not charge pat there though. Please help

[Sean Owen]

great thread you posted fella it helped me get my tab back to life!

[FF22]

IT WORKS! MY PLAYBOOK LIVES!
it says 0% and will not charge pat there though. Please help

Leave it plugged in overnight, at least. If that does not work you might have to Stack Charge.

I don't know what my following text says, but UNplug the charger at the wall to avoid adding any additional stress to the usb port.

Locked, bricked Stack Charge Charging

Another method to try:

Try this....

HOLD the power key for 20 seconds, after 20 Seconds do not let go of the power button and plug in the wall charger, and then let go... should get a steady red light for about 10 seconds, then the battery icon with lightning bolt should appear, after that the blinking green will appear and screen will go off.. now its charginggg..... lol wasted 4 hrs tyrign every other method, stack charging everything.... and this one worked for me...hope this works for everyone else

...............


More Mapsonburt (a pb user) who posted this info:

Don't keep trying if you get the Red light/5 Yellows... you'll soon drag the battery down past where you can start it again. Leave it off, plug it in and let it charge (with at least a 1.8A charger). Once you get the flashing (once every few seconds) green light, you can power it up - on the charger. If you do drag it down below the red flash/5 yellows, plug it in for 1 minute, unplug (at the wall) for a second or so, plug it back in and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You'll eventually get the red/yellows and then leave it plugged in (and off) until you get the flashing green. It's a PITA but the PlayBook has a very conservative charging algorithm when the battery is below 2.67 Volts to prevent explosions (I'm guessing). I've never been unable to start one with that method.

Mapsonburt:


The PlayBook OS currently shuts down at 3.5 volts. When the battery gets below 2.67V it won't show power lights or even try to start because there isn't enough juice to even power the processor to run the code on the BIOS. The BIOS is software hard coded on a chip within the PlayBook that tells it how to load the PlayBook OS and is coded such that it only recognizes signed PlayBook boot images (which is why it is so hard to root and that nobody has been able to get one to boot Android or WebOS. The BIOS software also contains some charging algorithms for when the OS is not running - ie device is powered off but plugged into a charging source. This code ONLY runs when the battery is above 2.67 volts because the processor can't run below that.

The root of the problem is that this design issue prevents the device from accepting any charge longer than 60 seconds when the battery is too low to run the charging algorithms on the BIOS or on the OS (one runs before the device is powered on and one runs afterwards). RIM did this because Lithium Ion batteries have a nasty habit of catching fire if not charged properly so they wanted to ensure that the processor could be in control of the charging. Makes perfect sense and they probably thought they were avoiding situations like where early Li Ion batteries on laptops were catching on fire. The problem is they were a bit too aggressive in dealing with the problem at design stage. If the battery is below 2.67Volts their protective algorithms can't run but you also can't put enough charge into the battery to charge it! Hence all the reports of people having success with stack charging.

Unfortunately there are a lot of wrong ways to do this floating around out there and getting repeated everyone someone posts a new thread on the issue. It really should be made a sticky. What is the right way?

1) ONLY use a source that provides 1.7Amps or more of charge. The original charger provides this. The rapid chargers provide a lot more. Your phone charger only provides a fraction of this. Anything less is going to take forever to charge the battery above 2.67 volts and may not have enough juice to charge the battery AT ALL once the processor starts to run above 2.67Volts or even worse once the OS starts to run above 3.5Volts. Forget about using your computer to charge it when the OS isn't running as the computer looks for the hardware to identify itself and won't put out a full charge current unless the device indicates it can accept. Once the OS is running, you'd often CAN get enough power from the USB on the computer but that is because the OS has signaled it is OK for the computer to send it. When the OS/BIOS isn't running, the PlayBook won't take much/any charge from a computer. The rapid chargers are best as they quickly charge but more importantly do not use the (too) flimsy USB port. A lot of problems are caused by this port getting wobbly over time and the device not getting a charge at all. Everyone should have a rapid charger.

2) Until you get your device WELL above the 3.5Volts that let's the PlayBook boot, do NOT try to start it. Every attempt drags the battery down some more and that attempt sucks much more charge from the battery than you can put in in those 60 seconds before the hardware shuts down the charging. How can you tell where your battery is? Well if you are getting no lights on the playbook on your first charging attempt you are below 2.67volts. If lights go on and then it doesn't start the OS it is below 3.5Volts. If it loads the OS and then dies it is just above 3.5Volts. If the device loads the OS it is somewhere below 5.0Volts. Depending upon where you start (how low the battery is) various techniques work best. They are: REAL stack charging (plug in for 60 seconds, unplug, plug in for 60 seconds, repeat until the processor starts accepting charging (the big battery symbol on the screen). Again, DO NOT try to turn the device on until then. You are just working against yourself and it will take much longer. You should get the charging symbol within 20-45 minutes of repeated REAL stack charging. Forget you ever heard of plugging in for 2 mins and then off for 2 mins and similar as those 2 mins of off time are COMPLETELY worthless. I have put a multimeter on the PlayBook in this state and it NEVER takes more than a minute of charge when under 2.67volts but will accept another minute of charge after a short (1-2 second) disconnection. Just do it right.

3) Once you see that charging screen leave it plugged in to the charger (stop stack charging) for at least an hour before you try to start the PlayBook. If you don't you may end up in a situation where the attempt to start drags that battery back down below 2.67V and you have start stack charging again. Be patient, you are almost there!

4) Fully charge your Playbook after this to ensure your PlayBook gets back to 100%.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot RIM can do about this now. It's a hardware design issue. I'd be interested in knowing if the fixed it with the 4G versions. I don't think I've ever seen that complaint with one of those but I've "fixed" both of mine a few times (the kids keep trying to power them on after letting them shut down on low battery despite me saying time RUN not walk and put it on a rapid charger when ever it hits the flashing red battery signal (9%). I've also helped many friends and people on the web and NOBODY who has followed the instructions has failed to get their PlayBook to charge.

I'm convinced this fault is the reason so many PlayBooks are returned to the stores and through RMA. RIM has been very good about this but it should never have happened. Happy Charging!


........................
The battery is likely below 2.65 volts. That happens if the PlayBook has sat for a while. Plug your charger into the playbook (make sure it's the stock charger and not a computer or other charger as you need to pump in lots of amps - more than 1.7amps - the more the better). The rapid charger is even better as it can go to 5 amps.

LEAVE the charger plugged into your PlayBook. Unplug it from the wall (to save the fragile micro-USB port) every minute for a few seconds and plug back in. You'll see lots of references on the web to plug in for 2 minutes and unplug for 2 minutes. Ignore those. I took the PlayBook apart and put a multimeter on mine when it was doing this. If the battery is below 2.65 volts, the PlayBook charging circuit charges for about 1 minute and then shuts down. NO AMOUNT of continued charging makes any difference. As soon as you unplug it (at the wall) and power it back up, it will take charge again for another 45-60 seconds. Repeat.

Keep doing that for as long as it takes to get the screen to show the charging display. If it is just below 2.65volts, it will take somewhere between 20-45 minutes as the battery only takes a little bit of charge each cycle and you need to get that voltage up over 2.65 volts (at which point it will show the charging display and take a full charge). It may take more... but keep at it. Every time you plug it in for 60 seconds, you are adding a bit more power to the battery.

DO NOT try to power the device on until the device has a full charge. You will just risk getting it into a situation where it can't fully boot before it drags the charge down below 2.65 volts again and you'll have to start all over.

This works... and saves you from having to jump start it like I did the first time I got mine into this situation.

----------------------

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook battery power charge, discharge characteristics, and guidance on extending battery life

[jpash549]

Please Mr. F2 consider amending your informative post at the point where you suggest unplugging at the wall to suggest using a surge protector with a switch. Not only is it poor practice to disconnect a device drawing current by pulling the plug at the wall but also the charger cord could be damaged by repeated plugging and unplugging.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[Krebs2017]

Leave it plugged in overnight, at least. If that does not work you might have to Stack Charge.

I don't know what my following text says, but UNplug the charger at the wall to avoid adding any additional stress to the usb port.

Locked, bricked Stack Charge Charging

Another method to try:

Try this....

HOLD the power key for 20 seconds, after 20 Seconds do not let go of the power button and plug in the wall charger, and then let go... should get a steady red light for about 10 seconds, then the battery icon with lightning bolt should appear, after that the blinking green will appear and screen will go off.. now its charginggg..... lol wasted 4 hrs tyrign every other method, stack charging everything.... and this one worked for me...hope this works for everyone else

...............


More Mapsonburt (a pb user) who posted this info:

Don't keep trying if you get the Red light/5 Yellows... you'll soon drag the battery down past where you can start it again. Leave it off, plug it in and let it charge (with at least a 1.8A charger). Once you get the flashing (once every few seconds) green light, you can power it up - on the charger. If you do drag it down below the red flash/5 yellows, plug it in for 1 minute, unplug (at the wall) for a second or so, plug it back in and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You'll eventually get the red/yellows and then leave it plugged in (and off) until you get the flashing green. It's a PITA but the PlayBook has a very conservative charging algorithm when the battery is below 2.67 Volts to prevent explosions (I'm guessing). I've never been unable to start one with that method.

Mapsonburt:


The PlayBook OS currently shuts down at 3.5 volts. When the battery gets below 2.67V it won't show power lights or even try to start because there isn't enough juice to even power the processor to run the code on the BIOS. The BIOS is software hard coded on a chip within the PlayBook that tells it how to load the PlayBook OS and is coded such that it only recognizes signed PlayBook boot images (which is why it is so hard to root and that nobody has been able to get one to boot Android or WebOS. The BIOS software also contains some charging algorithms for when the OS is not running - ie device is powered off but plugged into a charging source. This code ONLY runs when the battery is above 2.67 volts because the processor can't run below that.

The root of the problem is that this design issue prevents the device from accepting any charge longer than 60 seconds when the battery is too low to run the charging algorithms on the BIOS or on the OS (one runs before the device is powered on and one runs afterwards). RIM did this because Lithium Ion batteries have a nasty habit of catching fire if not charged properly so they wanted to ensure that the processor could be in control of the charging. Makes perfect sense and they probably thought they were avoiding situations like where early Li Ion batteries on laptops were catching on fire. The problem is they were a bit too aggressive in dealing with the problem at design stage. If the battery is below 2.67Volts their protective algorithms can't run but you also can't put enough charge into the battery to charge it! Hence all the reports of people having success with stack charging.

Unfortunately there are a lot of wrong ways to do this floating around out there and getting repeated everyone someone posts a new thread on the issue. It really should be made a sticky. What is the right way?

1) ONLY use a source that provides 1.7Amps or more of charge. The original charger provides this. The rapid chargers provide a lot more. Your phone charger only provides a fraction of this. Anything less is going to take forever to charge the battery above 2.67 volts and may not have enough juice to charge the battery AT ALL once the processor starts to run above 2.67Volts or even worse once the OS starts to run above 3.5Volts. Forget about using your computer to charge it when the OS isn't running as the computer looks for the hardware to identify itself and won't put out a full charge current unless the device indicates it can accept. Once the OS is running, you'd often CAN get enough power from the USB on the computer but that is because the OS has signaled it is OK for the computer to send it. When the OS/BIOS isn't running, the PlayBook won't take much/any charge from a computer. The rapid chargers are best as they quickly charge but more importantly do not use the (too) flimsy USB port. A lot of problems are caused by this port getting wobbly over time and the device not getting a charge at all. Everyone should have a rapid charger.

2) Until you get your device WELL above the 3.5Volts that let's the PlayBook boot, do NOT try to start it. Every attempt drags the battery down some more and that attempt sucks much more charge from the battery than you can put in in those 60 seconds before the hardware shuts down the charging. How can you tell where your battery is? Well if you are getting no lights on the playbook on your first charging attempt you are below 2.67volts. If lights go on and then it doesn't start the OS it is below 3.5Volts. If it loads the OS and then dies it is just above 3.5Volts. If the device loads the OS it is somewhere below 5.0Volts. Depending upon where you start (how low the battery is) various techniques work best. They are: REAL stack charging (plug in for 60 seconds, unplug, plug in for 60 seconds, repeat until the processor starts accepting charging (the big battery symbol on the screen). Again, DO NOT try to turn the device on until then. You are just working against yourself and it will take much longer. You should get the charging symbol within 20-45 minutes of repeated REAL stack charging. Forget you ever heard of plugging in for 2 mins and then off for 2 mins and similar as those 2 mins of off time are COMPLETELY worthless. I have put a multimeter on the PlayBook in this state and it NEVER takes more than a minute of charge when under 2.67volts but will accept another minute of charge after a short (1-2 second) disconnection. Just do it right.

3) Once you see that charging screen leave it plugged in to the charger (stop stack charging) for at least an hour before you try to start the PlayBook. If you don't you may end up in a situation where the attempt to start drags that battery back down below 2.67V and you have start stack charging again. Be patient, you are almost there!

4) Fully charge your Playbook after this to ensure your PlayBook gets back to 100%.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot RIM can do about this now. It's a hardware design issue. I'd be interested in knowing if the fixed it with the 4G versions. I don't think I've ever seen that complaint with one of those but I've "fixed" both of mine a few times (the kids keep trying to power them on after letting them shut down on low battery despite me saying time RUN not walk and put it on a rapid charger when ever it hits the flashing red battery signal (9%). I've also helped many friends and people on the web and NOBODY who has followed the instructions has failed to get their PlayBook to charge.

I'm convinced this fault is the reason so many PlayBooks are returned to the stores and through RMA. RIM has been very good about this but it should never have happened. Happy Charging!


........................
The battery is likely below 2.65 volts. That happens if the PlayBook has sat for a while. Plug your charger into the playbook (make sure it's the stock charger and not a computer or other charger as you need to pump in lots of amps - more than 1.7amps - the more the better). The rapid charger is even better as it can go to 5 amps.

LEAVE the charger plugged into your PlayBook. Unplug it from the wall (to save the fragile micro-USB port) every minute for a few seconds and plug back in. You'll see lots of references on the web to plug in for 2 minutes and unplug for 2 minutes. Ignore those. I took the PlayBook apart and put a multimeter on mine when it was doing this. If the battery is below 2.65 volts, the PlayBook charging circuit charges for about 1 minute and then shuts down. NO AMOUNT of continued charging makes any difference. As soon as you unplug it (at the wall) and power it back up, it will take charge again for another 45-60 seconds. Repeat.

Keep doing that for as long as it takes to get the screen to show the charging display. If it is just below 2.65volts, it will take somewhere between 20-45 minutes as the battery only takes a little bit of charge each cycle and you need to get that voltage up over 2.65 volts (at which point it will show the charging display and take a full charge). It may take more... but keep at it. Every time you plug it in for 60 seconds, you are adding a bit more power to the battery.

DO NOT try to power the device on until the device has a full charge. You will just risk getting it into a situation where it can't fully boot before it drags the charge down below 2.65 volts again and you'll have to start all over.

This works... and saves you from having to jump start it like I did the first time I got mine into this situation.

----------------------

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook battery power charge, discharge characteristics, and guidance on extending battery life

Thanks F2. I didnt actually need that. I left it plugged in for about 1 hour and it charged to 2% and then after that it charged quick like it would normally. THANKS EVERYONE FOR GETTING MY PLAYBOOK BACK TO LIFE!

[Shakti Bothra]

I tried the 3rd solution but even after a hundred times the red light did not turn green. When I plug in the charger, as you mentioned, a red light glows for about 10-12 secs. Then if I let it be, a charging symbol appears on the screen. This stays for about 10 seconds. Then the light turns green but it glows only for about 4-5 seconds and then dead. Sometimes after the green light, the blackberry logo is visible for about 90 seconds and then the playbook goes dead again... Any ideas as to what I can do??

[Angus_CB]

Take the back off.
Disconnect the battery.
Leave it for 30 seconds.
Connect the battery.
Put it back together.
Try stack charging again.

[Wayne Sawka]

Hey my daughter was using her blackberry using it while charging it and now the charger cord won't work either the inside is broken not charging it plus I'm lost so help me please

[Angus_CB]

If the inside is broken you'll have to get the USB port replaced.
If you don't use the USB port, just get a rapid charger or dock that uses the magnetic connector.